News from Asia
China 5/29/2010
The Dalai Lama reaches to the Chinese by way of the microblogger, twitter. It is estimated that the Dalai Lama could reach as many as 150,000 Chines who have twitter accounts
Pakistan 5/29/2010
Pakistani Taliban terrorists are believed to be behind the attacks on mosques of the minority Ahmadis.
Read the whole story hereIndia 5/22/2010
An Air India passenger plane has crashed while trying to land in southern India, killing about 159 people on board. It is the worst air accident in India in over a decade.
India 5/22/2010
The plans of Maharashtra state government to promote Hindu culture in Christian schools is being fought by the Archdiocesan Board of Education, which run approximately 150 Christian schools in Mumbai.
India
Indian missionaries say it is ‘privilege’ to suffer. Missionaries in training with Gospel for Asia have spoken of the “privilege” they felt in suffering for Christ after being attacked on their Bible college campus in Mumbai, India, earlier in the month.
Seven students were seriously injured in the attack by suspected anti-Christian extremists on May 9.
They were preparing the evening meal when attackers armed with wooden sticks, iron rods and fluorescent light tubes stormed onto the campus, beating them and vandalising the buildings.
The students tried to speak to the assailants and find out why they were attacking them but got no answer.
Philippines
New Bible Translations Clear Up Confusion in Philippines. Sometimes meaning gets lost in translation. Literally.
For instance, an old Cebuano Bible translation for the Philippines' second-largest language group (16 million speakers) incorrectly refers to marital sex using a word that refers to illicit sex, pakighilawas, bringing a negative connotation to Bible passages that doesn't exist in the original languages.
Because the meaning of older Cebuano and Tagalog (22 million speakers) translations often caused confusion, church leaders asked Biblica to work on new Bible translations based on the same principles of accuracy and modern language used by the New International Version® (NIV®) of the Bible. It took 18 years to complete these two translations, which are bringing God's Word in contemporary language to the two largest people groups of the Philippines.
Pakistan
Pakistan Christian Workers “Tortured” Over Crucifix. hree Christian workers were detained and "tortured" by police and dismissed from their jobs in Pakistan's Punjab province for wearing a crucifix and church visits on Sundays, according to statements from the men, their priest and family members Wednesday, May 12. Local police said the Christians were taken into custody because of suspected "alcohol" related offenses.
Atif Masih, Kamran Masih and Naveed Gill, who worked at a local garments factory in the Paka Garah area of Sialkot city, were arrested May 4 on what they and relatives called "false" accusations of illegally selling alcoholic beverages. "We were arrested" by local police "and pressured to give a false statement that we sold alcohol," the workers alleged.